The invention relates to a pool cleaning apparatus, in particular a swimming pool cleaning apparatus.
There are known a number of apparatuses which allow a pool to be cleaned, in particular allow the liquid thereof and/or the immersed walls to be cleaned. During operation, these apparatuses are immersed in the liquid of the pool and are therefore at least partially filled by it. This is more generally the case since this type of apparatus comprises a hydraulic circuit in which a portion of the liquid of the pool is circulated in order to clean it, for example, by means of filtration.
Consequently, the weight of the apparatus, once withdrawn from the liquid, is the sum of the weight of the apparatus in the empty state and the weight of the volume of liquid contained in the apparatus. This weight of the apparatus, once withdrawn from the liquid, is therefore generally quite great and in any case greater than the weight of the apparatus in the empty state. It is therefore often the case that a user who has succeeded, when the apparatus is used for the first time, in carrying it to the pool to be cleaned is subsequently no longer capable of removing this apparatus from the pool owing to the additional weight brought about by the presence of a volume of residual liquid in the apparatus. These apparatuses must be removed from the pool on a regular basis, in particular from a swimming pool in order to be able to bathe therein, to carry out maintenance of the apparatus or to clean the apparatus.
There are known more specifically apparatuses as described in WO2009/081040 and US 2011/0088182 in which the water contained in the apparatus at the time it is removed from the pool is discharged in a passive manner, by means of gravitational force, via an opening of the shell, an operating handle being arranged opposite said opening.
In such apparatuses, however, the discharge of the water is slow, and even slower if the discharge opening in the shell is narrow. The user removing the apparatus from the pool must therefore lift the weight of the apparatus and the water which it contains for a significant length of time, which is neither ergonomic, nor pleasant, and in any case not acceptable for weak persons such as children or elderly persons. A significant emptying time is all the more unacceptable since the user is generally in a position which is difficult to maintain with a great load in his hand: being at the edge of the pool, he generally holds the apparatus above the pool so that the discharged water returns into the pool.